Fishing rod handle



w. 1. TREADWAY ETAL FISHING ROD HANDLE Filed Nov. 21, 1944 gmmrm MARION E- LINXWILER WILLIAM I. TREADWAY Patented Dec. 2, 194? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FISHING ROD: HANDLE William I. 'Treadway and Marion Linxwiler,

Bristol, Conn., :assignors to .ThefHortoniManufacturing Company, Bristol, Com-1.; a corporation of Connecticut Application November 21, 194.4, Serial No..56,4,506

'3 Claims. 1 This invention relates to fishing rodlhandles and has particular reference to meanslfor detach- ,ablysecuring a fishing reel thereto.

object of the invention'is to provide .a fishing reelhandle with improved and novel means .Ifor 'detacha'bly securing a fishing reel thereto, the

arrangement being such that the reel may be very readily secured in place on the handle, and the reel maybe quickly disconnected therefrombya sim- ,ple manual operation, while at the same time accidental disconnection of the reel from thehandie is etlectivelyguarded against. lThearrangement is .such that when .the reel .is secured in place,the securing means cannot beijarred from securing position, as when the butt of the handle is struck against theground or the'like.

A furtheraim of theinvention. is .to provide. a improved arrangement of this sort which has various .features of novelty and advantage and which isparticularly characterized by its effectiveness in operation, its simplicityin construction and its economy in" manufacture.

Otherobjects willbeinpart obvious andin part'pointed out morein detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the .fea- "tures of construction, combination of elements 'andarrangem'entof parts which will be exemplified'in the constructionhereafter set forth and "the scope of theapplication of which will be. indithe forward end "of the handle, the same being taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and v Fig. 5 is an exploded view showing, in perspective, the several partsofthe means for securing the reel in place ontheihandle.

Referring to the drawing'in detail, A denotes generally a main handle member or frame having an intermediate portion I 0, a shank I l extending rearwardlyirom the rear end of themtermediate portion, and a head or boss I2 extending forwardly from the front end -of-the intermediate portion. The member A may be cast or molded and is preferably made of an aluminum alloy. Theintermediate portion 10 between its en'ds has-afiatsurface or seat". l5: upon which; the base plate of the-reel (notshown) is adapted'to rest. Along each side of the seat I5 is a longitudinally extending rib or flange l6. At the rear end of the seat I5 is a recess I! in which the heel 38 in'the lower end of the plunger. has a'fiange'dl adapted to engage the lower end end. of the. base plate of the reeliis adaptedto en- .gage. LEitting about theshank H is a rear hand gripfjB of. suitable material, such as a. molded plastic. Fitting aboutthehead .I2 is front hand .grip'C also of suitable material. .The head 12 has .a socket f8 adapted toreceive the butt end of .a fishing pole'D, .thelatter being shown in broken lines.

Referring now'to theilatch arrangement for securing'the reel'in .place,'25 designates a' latch member or slide mounted for slidingmovement in the Tforward .end of the ,channel which is v.formed'by the seat [5 and the ribs'l'fi. This slide has on its under'sidearecessl' adaptedto accommodatethetoeend of the baseplate of the reel. The slide 7 also hasan upwardly extending Lfingerpiece "Zfijfor drawing the slide forwardly when it is desired .to detach the reel from the handle. The slide is secured: to the rear end of .a ratchet bar 27 having transverse teeth '21 on its underside. Thebar projects intoa hole 23 extending longitudinally through the head l2 and located beneath the.;socket.l8. The rear portion ashore-28 .of'thishole -231is of such diameter that the bar 21 will slidably fit therein. The hole "has. an intermediate, portion orbore 29into which 'thegforwardend of the ratchetbar extends. forward end of the bar carries a stop screw.39

The

adapted "to engage the shoulder 3| between-the bore portions 28 and 29 wherebyrearward movementof the slide islimited, Located within the boreportion 29 is a coiled. spring 32 which abuts at-its rear end, against the stop screw 30 and at its forward endagainst a plug 33 screwed into: an

enlarged bore 34 at theuforward end of the.hole -23.

*Located'in'the rearportionof the head [2 and intersecting theborelportion 2.8 of thehole .2-3 is a vertical bore 35 which is .open at. its .upper end andciosed at its. lower end. bore 351s preferably of'circular cross section and accommodates a release plungerl3fi. The upper end of the release plunger has ahead 31 against which the finger or thumb isadapted to be pressed when it -is desired 'to release the .latch. .IIhe

plunger, atits lower end, hasvan axial .hole.38 which opens-into a transverse s1ot'39 through which the-ratchet bar extends. "The numeral.

designatesa pawlwhichislin the form of a stud having a shank portion-,slidably fitting in the hole The pawl of the plunger. Thepawl also has on its upper end transversely extending teeth 42 which are complementarytothe teeth .21 ,of the ratchet bar soas to-meshtherewith. In the bottom of the vertical bore'35 and beneath the pawl is a coiled spring 43 which normally urges the pawl into engagement with the ratchet bar,

It will be seen from the foregoing description secured in place on, and removed from, the handle. Assuming that the reel is in place and it is desired to remove the same, this may be done with facility by merely pressing forwardly on the.

finger or thumb piece 26 of the slide so as to draw the slide, together with the ratchet bar carried thereby, forwardly beyond the toe or forward end of the base plate of the reel. The reel may then be removed from the seat I5. The slide will be held in its forward position due to the interengagement between the teeth 21' and 42 on the ratchet bar and pawl respectively. When it is desired to secure the reel to the handle, it is merely necessary to place the base of the reel on the seat l with its heel end engaged in the recess I1 and then push downwardly on the release plunger 35, whereupon the spring 32 will force the slide 25 rearwardly into overlapping engagement with the toe end of the base plate of the reel. The plunger may now be released, whereupon it, together with the pawl 40, will be raised by the spring 43. It will be observed that the spring 32 normally urges the slide rearwardly into its reel locking position, and the slide is frictionally held in its locking position by the pawl 40 which is urged into engagement with the ratchet bar by the sprin 43. Thus, the reel is securely held in position while, at the same time, the latching means may be readily manipulated to unlock it from place. In the event that the butt end of the handle should be jarred against the ground or any object, the force imparted to the slide 25 would be in a direction to move it further into its reel locking position. It will further be observed that the slide and the release plunger are so located that they may be very easily and readily manipulated by the thumb or fingers of the hand positioned about the forward grip C.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and marry apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said tofall therebetween.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a fishing rod handle, a handle havin an intermediate portion constituting a seat for the base plate of a reel, a hand grip extending rearwardly from the rear end of the intermediate portion, and a head extending forwardly from the forward end of the intermediate portion; said head having a longitudinally extending bore disposed above the plane of said seat, a latching member comprising a slide and a ratchet bar extending forwardly therefrom and into said bore, said slide being adapted to overlie the toe end of the base plate of the reel when the slide is moved rearwardly into latching position, a spring normally urging said slide rearwardly into latching position, a pawl in said head and having teeth 4 adapted to engage the teeth of said ratchet bar, a spring normally urging said pawl into engagement with the ratchet bar, and a release plunger for disengaging the pawl from the ratchet bar.

2. In a fishing rod handle, a handle having an intermediate portion constituting a seat for the base plate of a reel, a hand grip extending rear- I wardly from the rear end of the intermediate portion, and a head extending forwardly from the forward end of the intermediate portion; said head having a longitudinally extending bore disposed above the plane of said seat and a vertical bore intersecting said first bore adjacent the rear end of the latter, a slide at the forward end of said seat and adapted to overlie the toe end of the base plate of the reel, a ratchet bar fixed to said slide and extending forwardly therefrom into said longitudinally extending bore, a spring in said head forwardly of the bar and normally urgin said bar and slide rearwardly, a pawl in said vertical bore below said bar and having teeth adapted to engage the teeth of the bar, a release plunger in said vertical bore and having a transverse slot through which said bar extends, and a spring beneath said pawl for urging said pawl into engagement with said bar and said release plunger to an upper position.

3. In a fishing rod handle, a handle havin an intermediate portion provided with a flat seat for receiving the base plate of a reel, a hand grip portion extending rearwardly from the rear end of said intermediate portion, a head extending forwardly from the front end of said intermediate portion and having a socket adapted to receive the butt end of a fishing pole; said head having a longitudinally extending opening disposed above the plane of said seat and a vertical bore intersecting said opening adjacent the rear thereof, a slide at the forward end of said seat and adapted to overlie the toe end of the base plate of the reel to secure the same in position, a ratchet bar connected to said slide and extending forwardly therefrom into said opening and through said bore, a spring in the forward end of said opening bearing against the forward end of said bar for urging said slide rearwardly into latching position, a release plunger in said vertical bore having a transverse slot through which said bar extends and an axial hole at its lower end opening into said slot, a pawl having a body portion slidably mounted in said axial hole and provided at its upper end with teeth adapted to engage the teeth of said ratchet bar, said pawl having at its lower end a flange adapted to engage against the lower end of said plunger, and a spring in the bottom of said vertical bore and beneath said pawl and normally urging said pawl and plunger upwardly.

WILLIAM I. TREADWAY. MARION E. LINXWILER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

